Bleak Expectations coming to the stage
- Radio 4 sitcom Bleak Expectations has been adapted for the stage
- The Dickensian pastiche ran for five hit series from 2007
- A new world premiere stage play will run at The Watermill Theatre in Berkshire from the end of May
The Watermill Theatre at Newbury in Berkshire is to stage an adaptation of hit Radio 4 comedy Bleak Expectations.
The Dickensian spoof has been penned by the sitcom's creator, Mark Evans, and will open the venue's 2022 season, running from Friday 27th May until Saturday 2nd July.
Tickets will be on sale from noon on Wednesday 6th April via the venue's website, watermill.org.uk. Casting details have yet to be announced.
A world premiere production, the show is directed by Caroline Leslie and presented in association with Anthology Theatre Productions and David Wolstencroft.
Originally running for five acclaimed series on BBC Radio 4 between 2007 and 2012, Bleak Expectations follows the adventures of Sir Philip 'Pip' Bin, inventor of the bin; his sisters; his best friend, Harry Biscuit; and ironically named evil guardian, Mr. Gently Benevolent.
Tom Allen lead the cast as Young Pip and Richard Johnson as his elder self, recounting his memoirs in later life. The ensemble also included Anthony Head, James Bachman, Susy Kane, Sarah Hadland and Geoffrey Whitehead.
The popularity of the comedy previously lead to the publication of a novelisation of its first series.
Watermill's artistic director Paul Hart and associate artistic director Abigail Pickard Price say: "This bumper new season features major revivals and three brilliant new plays. We begin with fast-paced comedy from Bleak Expectations, bringing this much-loved radio show to stage for the first time. We're looking forward to filling the theatre with raucous laughter."
The season, running until Christmas, will also include new productions of A Monster Calls, Othello, and musical Whistle Down The Wind.
Bleak Expectations - The Novel
You think you know the entire story of Bleak Expectations but look! Now it's also a big, fat, juicy book. Like the radio series, but with added jokes, extra bits of story, additional dimensions to characters and masses more paper. Unless you're reading it as an e-book in which case ...masses more digital information bits.
Bleak Expectations recounts the remarkable adventures of young Pip Bin as he tries to repair his destroyed family and distinctly damaged life, aided by his best friend Harry Biscuit and definitely not aided by his cruel and ironically named guardian Mr Gently Benevolent and his accomplices, the fearsome Hardthrasher siblings. Grim circumstances, mistaken identities, unlikely inheritances,nightmarish court cases, ridiculous names, convenient coincidences to resolve plot problems, over-sentimental death scenes and lots and lots of adjectives: Bleak Expectations is the novel Charles Dickens might have written after drinking far too much gin.
Brand new novelisation of the first series of Radio 4 hit sitcom and Dickensian pastiche Bleak Expectations, by Mark Evans.
First published: Thursday 15th November 2012
- Publisher: Corsair
- Catalogue: 9781472103406
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Bleak Expectations - The Complete Series 1-5
The complete collected Series 1-5 of the gloriously daft Victorian romp Bleak Expectations.
Gasp at the evil Mr Gently Benevolent, played by Mr Anthony Head! Weep at the trials of our young hero, Pip Bin, played by Master Tom Allen! Be moved to joy and sorrow by the remarkable narration of Mr Richard Johnson! Swoon at the fragile beauty of Pip's poor mama, played by Miss Celia Imrie! Wonder at the thespian prowess of Mr Geoffrey Whitehead as six different siblings! Follow the remarkable adventures of young Pip Bin as he struggles to rescue himself and his sisters from the schemes of his evil and badly named guardian, Mr Gently Benevolent, and the blood-curdling Hardthrasher family.
Immerse yourself in a timeless epic featuring terrifying schools, even worse prisons, opium dens, disguises, court cases, shipwrecks, underwater squirrels and swashbuckling long-lost aunts. Revel in the many fine quips, characters and scenarios written by Mr Mark Evans and produced by Mr Gareth Edwards, previously renowned for their craftsmanship on the works of Messrs Mitchell & Webb.
First released: Monday 3rd July 2017
- Distributor: BBC Digital Audio
- Minutes: 844
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